1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to pickup trucks and to covers for covering the open bed thereof. More particularly, this invention pertains to rigid covers for the open bed of pickup trucks and to means for locking and unlocking them as well as for removing all or portions thereof.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Pickup trucks are preferred over larger, enclosed-bodied trucks because of their lower cost, their greater versatility on construction sites and for the ease in which the truck bed is loaded and unloaded. Pickup truck beds, however, are made open and without a cover. Numerous attempts have been made to make flexible as well as rigid covers for fitting a wide variety of pickup truck beds, see U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,578,378; 3,762,763; 3,773,380; 4,418,954; 4,518,194; and 4,615,557. While these inventions provide covers for truck beds, other problems in one form or another have remained to make these prior problems in one form or another have remained to make these prior art devices not fully compatible with the needs and desires of pickup truck owners.
For instance, prior art mechanisms for securing the panels for protection of the contents in the truck bed and also for allowing the panels to be removed require complicated locking and unlocking hardware that render the units overly expensive. In addition, typical utilization of pickup trucks on construction sites involves rough handling and causes stress to the covers so that rainwater, dust and dirt is allowed to enter the truck bed and damage tools and cargo carried therein. Recently, much popularity has been gained for a tool chest that spans the truck bed from side-to-side, adjacent the cab rear wall. Many prior art devices make it difficult to open the panel nearest the cab for access to this tool chest without completely removing all of the panels from the truck. Further, inter-movement of the panels, for such reasons as loading and unloading large cargo from the truck bed, require rollers or other sensitive hardware to be used to support the panels. This hardware tends to stick and become unusable should the truck be subject to bumping or banging, as is common on the construction site, or from dirt and dust that is always around truck operations. Still further, locks used to secure the truck covers have continually been those of the type that extend out from the sides or from the rear of the truck posing hazards to pedestrian traffic passing close by. Even further, many pickup trucks have damaged rear tail gate locking mechanisms, stemming from long use and rough handling, and many prior art covers require the existence of an operable locking mechanism so that pickup trucks are not capable of using the prior art covers to their fullest extent without undergoing expensive repair of the tail gate locking mechanism.
Finally, most prior art pickup truck cover devices require two persons to place the covers on the truck bed, generally one at each side, to insert the rail or other track rider onto the track that is generally positioned along the top of the sides of the truck bed. With these designs, single person operation of the cover mechanism poses a singular labor problem.
The present invention overcomes all of the problems that have heretofore existed in the prior art. This invention consists of a plurality of panels that span the truck bed from side to side and are arranged to slide upon and be carried upon tracks laid atop the sides of the truck bed. The panels are adapted to assemble in front-to-rear abutment with the front-most panel adjacent the cab rear wall adapted to pivot upward to allow access to the tool chest located in the front of the truck bed. Molded-in rain gutters convey rain water away from the cover to the outside of the truck. The panels may be locked by locking mechanisms that are positioned above the truck cover allowing the sides of the truck to be free of exposed safety hazards. Further, the cover in assembled configuration locks the tail gate without need to resort to the tail gate locking mechanism. Finally, the panels are arranged to allow assembly and disassembly by one person on a rail-track design that involves a scraping or self-cleaning operation thereto.